Short history of Westernswing

The music came out of the dusty Texas and Oklahoma dance halls during the Great Depression in the 1930's. It mixed the earthy character and instrumentation of early Country music with the swinging dance rhythms and the elaborate improvisation of jazz and blues from the period. It was Saturday night dance music, which combined jazz and big band swing with the south western lifestyle. Through the instrumentation and the local influences, it evolved its distinctive character. The music was played in road houses and dance halls as a form of low cost entertainment, and reached its peak in the 1940's. The repertoire of the Westernswing bands of the 1930's and 1940's ranged from fiddle breakdowns to swing, blues and jumped-up country numbers. Westernswing is inexorably linked with the Texan fiddler and bandleader, Bob Wills. He was the first to mix folk, country, cowboy, jazz and blues influences, and therefore became the founder of this musical style.